Bucharest, June 17, 2020
Photo: lumeapolitica.ro
Romanian Orthodox Christians have been attending open-air Church services on the territory outside their churches for a month, following the suspension of the coronavirus-related state of emergency.
Now, thanks to a new government decision, the faithful can return to services inside their sacred churches and monasteries, reports the Basilica News Agency.
The decision to allow services to be held within churches again, under certain conditions that will be announced later, was announced yesterday by Prime Minister Ludovic Orban. The decision was joyfully welcomed by the Romanian Church.
“The Romanian Patriarchate welcomed the highly anticipated and fully justified decision of the authorities to allow religious services to be officiated within the churches, with the participation of the faithful, subject to clear and still necessary regulations,” Church spokesman Vasile Bănescu commented.
“The normalization of social life also means the return of people, with the necessary protection measures, to the exercise of their fundamental right to public religious life, i.e. in places of worship,” Bănescu said in early May, before open-air services had even begun.
The Church will continue to respect the sanitary regulations, he emphasized yesterday.
“Authentic faith civilizes and gives moral attention, care and respect to the other. Therefore, faith honors in the highest degree,” said the Church spokesman.
